An excellent nurse is an asset to your healthcare organization and an essential part of your organization’s culture. A candidate may possess everything you desire in a nurse, but cannot integrate and add to the culture of the workplace. No matter how great the qualifications, if a nursing applicant isn’t a good cultural fit, it can be a challenge and a detriment to the entire team.
So how can you tell if a nursing applicant is a good cultural fit before they begin working for your organization? This question has concerned interviewers and hiring managers for decades. After all, you have no crystal ball, and you have no idea whether your candidate will be an asset to the team or cause undue disharmony and stress. While we can’t offer a crystal ball, we can give you some tips.
In order to accurately determine a nursing applicant’s ability to fit well with your workplace culture, an interviewer must pay close attention to cues and details. Assessing soft skills and traits like the shared values of teamwork and kindness, checking their preferred work style, whether they are independent or a team player, and measuring their enthusiasm for the job are some of the ways you can determine cultural fit. Here we offer a detailed look at six ways you can determine if a nursing applicant is a good cultural fit.
1. Ask the Right Behavioral Questions
Ask the tough questions about previous conflicts and how they were resolved, how mistakes were managed, and how the applicant dealt with teamwork. Pay careful attention to the answers and how they align with your workplace culture.
2. Gauge Attitude and Communication Skills
Assess non-verbal communication like body language and enthusiasm. Are they articulate? Can they verbally communicate clearly and effectively? How is their overall attitude? A negative attitude can become toxic to the rest of the team. It can also spread.
3. Assess Adaptability and Self-Awareness
Ask questions like what they would change about their previous position, what traits their ideal manager would possess, and how they would like their goals and trajectory to work out. These questions provide a view into the candidate’s self-awareness and their ability to adapt to situations.
4. Real Scenario Simulations
Present your nursing applicant with scenarios that challenge ethics, question morals, and even politics, in a complex way. Asking them how they would react and handle certain difficult scenarios helps you gain insight into their judgment and their ability to remain tactful and diplomatic in highly charged situations.
5. Find Out Their Preferred Work Style/Pace
Do they work best independently or prefer to be part of a team? Are they up to a fast-paced work environment, or do they prefer a predictable work environment? Are they flexible with scheduling? The answers you receive demonstrate how well the nursing applicant’s work style aligns with your workplace culture.
6. Thoroughly Vet References and Ask The Right Questions
Ask references the right questions. Ask about their “cultural add” to their previous teams. Ask the applicant what they think they could add to your workplace in terms of soft skills and culture. While being able to integrate with other team members is necessary, adding to your culture and elevating the team dynamic is really what you want in a new candidate.
We Find Your Perfect Fit
One sure way to know if your nursing applicant fits your organization’s culture is by partnering with BOS Medical Staffing. We thoroughly vet all of our candidates and pride ourselves in making the match that works best for all. Please contact BOS Medical Staffing today, and let’s find the ideal nurse who fits your healthcare organization’s culture.
